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For entrepreneurs and startup executives who bury themselves
behind the firewall of their digital business, working a room can
carry deep dread. In the thick of building your product, it can
be easy to forget the importance of getting out and talking to
potential customers.

But conferences are a great way to get your message out, connect
with future clients and get the lay of the land from people on
the ground in your industry.

Recently NerdWallet's vice president of personal finance Shiyan
Koh was able to connect with more than half of 350 attendees at a
three-day event. Quite impressive. I asked Koh to share her tips
on how to kill it when you need to work a big room.

1. Most of the work is done before you
go. Central question to ask yourself: What do you
want to get out of the conference? You need to rationalize the
time and expense of going to an event, and more importantly have
goals to guide you. We knew we wanted not only to meet as many
people as possible but also to strengthen our ties to the
national body organizing the event and strengthen ties with
participants with whom we already had a relationship.

Get a list of participants and set up key meetings ahead of time
to ensure that, at the very least, you’ll walk away building key
relationships. Another off-the-wall tip: Bring your own laser
printer. That means you can print out last-minute materials
without having to run back and stand in line at the business
center of the hotel.

2. Figure out who really needs to
attend. Picking the right people to go is a big
thing. It’s surprising how many companies cough up cash to go to
a conference and then populate their exhibitor’s stand with a
junior person who spends their time twiddling thumbs or thumbing
through their smartphone. The best attendees have a strategic
interest to be there -- not just a bored pole-sitter flying the
firm’s flag at the company booth. They are proactive in meeting
people – not wallflowers.

3. Create a reason for people to come talk to
you. Understand that most people come to a
conference to meet people and attend the sessions. Walking
through the exhibitor’s hall comes as an afterthought. And
participants walk away with a suitcase full of cheap tchotchkes:
How many engraved company pens, stress balls and USB flash drives
do you really need?

Offer some things that will really matter to conference
participants and underline your company’s mission. For instance,
a chief offering of NerdWallet is our "Ask an Advisor" platform
that gives certified financial planners a way to showcase their
knowledge and promote themselves online. In keeping with that
mission, we had a stand with a professional photographer who shot
free portrait headshots attendees could use for their own
personal promotion.

The offering created buzz around our exhibit and gave us ample
opportunity to chat to people as they waited to be photographed.
More than half of the conference participants sat for a headshot
-- much more memorable than a free USB thumb drive.

4. Have a system for recording and remembering people you
met. It is imperative that you don't let all those
connections go to waste after the conference is complete.

We had a Google spreadsheet that we used to record who we met,
personal details about them and what we talked about. The last
bit can be crucial as a way to reconnect after the event, to jar
their own memories: “Hey Paul, really enjoyed our talk about how
you are thinking about using social media to connect with your
prospects...”

5. Follow up after the event. Make sure you
follow up with everyone you met after the event -- even if it’s
just a “nice to have met.” LinkedIn is an easy and natural way to
follow up after meeting someone at a conference. The key here is
to carry the momentum from a great convention into actual
conversion as a customer or partner. Remember, that’s the whole
point of attending conferences in the first place.